Page 12 of Hell’s Half Acre

“Will do. Try not to be obvious with our body-challenged friends.”

“Yeah. Keep the Dick off my ass.”

Sorcha screwed her face up as she wondered if he’d meant that the way it came out. With Luke, there was no telling.

Speaking of… Rory was heading her way.

He did have a masculine swagger that would be intense and sexy had she not met Luke first. And if she were honest with herself, she was attracted to Rory. Just not as much as she was to Luke.

Damn it.

“Where’s your partner?”

Sorcha glanced about as she tried to think of a good lie. Sadly, only one thing came to mind. “Bathroom break.”

Luke would kill her for saying that. She just hoped none of the ghosts around her ratted her out.

“Hmm.” Rory appeared less than convinced. “He always seems to be missing at the strangest times.”

Before she could comment, her phone rang. Yay for that timing.

Excusing herself, she stepped away to answer Bernadette’s call.

“You still at the scene?” There was a tone in Bernadette’s voice that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

“Yeah, why?”

“Murdoch didn’t text me. He knew nothing about the murder. He’s not even working tonight.”

“Then who⁠—”

“No one knows.”

Rory walked over to her. “You okay?”

What was she supposed to say to that? Think, Sorcha, think.

Her mind was a total blank. Sorcha had no idea how to answer his question. She wasn’t all right. She was freaking out if the truth were told. What was going on here?

The ghosts behind Rory now seemed malevolent.

Who had called them to this scene?

And why? It was the why that bothered her most. The why that panicked her.

“Sorcha?” Rory said her name at the same time Bernadette did.

“I’m here, boss,” she said to Bernadette while holding her hand up to let Rory know she was on the phone.

“You two need to clear out. Murdoch isn’t happy about y’all being on scene when he didn’t clear it. Especially something that’s going to be this high profile with the media.”

“Okay. I’ll let Luke know.” Clearing her throat, she hung up and turned back to Rory.

But as she focused her gaze on him, the strangest thing happened.

For the first time, she saw his wings. White and fragile, they appeared to be made of the sheerest gossamer. Much larger than she would have thought, they fluttered out from his back. The tops of them reached at least three feet over his head and the bottom brushed the ground. They were spectacular.

Luke was right.